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RRGH maintains a minimum $500 annual Company commitment and separately allocates 20% of positive RRGH business profit to Wolfe County Search & Rescue.
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Search & Rescue in the Red River Gorge
We experience this place, photograph it, explore it, and share it. We also believe in supporting the people who respond when hikers need help.
Red River Gorge Hiker, LLC maintains two separate commitments to Wolfe County Search & Rescue: at least $500 each calendar year, plus 20% of positive Red River Gorge Hiker business profit.
Two separate ways to help
Support Search & Rescue
Buying from Red River Gorge Hiker and donating directly to Wolfe County Search & Rescue are intentionally different paths.
Donate directly
Your donation goes directly to Wolfe County Search & Rescue through its own system. RRGH does not collect or relay it.
Donate directly to Wolfe County SAR ↗Why RRGH supports SAR
Giving back was part of the idea from the beginning
Red River Gorge Hiker, LLC maintains two separate commitments to Wolfe County Search & Rescue: at least $500 each calendar year, plus 20% of positive Red River Gorge Hiker business profit.
Red River Gorge Hiker is meant to be an identity hikers can share. The idea is simple: “I’m a Red River Gorge Hiker.” Supporting the people who come looking when hikers need help is a natural extension of what that identity should stand for.
Red River Gorge Hiker, LLC supports Wolfe County Search & Rescue independently through the Red River Gorge Hiker business-support program. This is not a partnership, sponsorship, endorsement, agency relationship, or commercial arrangement, and Red River Gorge Hiker, LLC does not speak on WCSART's behalf.
2026 public reporting
RRGH SAR Commitment
RRGH’s $500 annual commitment and its 20%-of-positive-business-profit commitment are separate. Neither commitment offsets nor satisfies the other.
View lifetime support figures
Lifetime personal support$500
Lifetime RRGH committed$500
Lifetime RRGH actually transferred$0
Combined lifetime actual support$500
Committed is not the same as transferred.
RRGH’s $500 annual commitment and its 20%-of-positive-business-profit commitment are separate. Neither commitment offsets nor satisfies the other. Amounts described as generated, allocated, or committed have not necessarily been transferred. “Donated” or “transferred” is used only after funds have actually been sent to Wolfe County Search & Rescue.
Before the current RRGH business-support program, Ryan D. Lewis personally contributed $500 to Wolfe County Search & Rescue in 2025. That historical personal support remains separate from Red River Gorge Hiker, LLC support.
Public figures come from the approved Google Drive ledger reporting output; the website does not calculate RRGH business profit or SAR commitment values. Last updated .
The team RRGH supports
About Wolfe County Search & Rescue
Wolfe County Search & Rescue is a volunteer search-and-rescue team serving Wolfe County and the greater Red River Gorge area. Its capabilities include wilderness searches, high-angle rope rescue, swift-water rescue, and dive/recovery work.
The cliffs, steep valleys, rock shelters, waterways, climbing areas, trails, and backcountry terrain that make the Gorge extraordinary can also make a rescue difficult. Supporting local rescue capacity is one way the RRGH community can give back to the place it enjoys.
This summary is based on WCSART’s public information. WCSART has not been represented as reviewing, approving, sponsoring, or endorsing this RRGH page.
Greater Gorge response context
Search & Rescue Across the Greater Red River Gorge
The Red River Gorge region crosses county and land-management boundaries. Emergency response can involve county emergency management, law enforcement, fire/EMS, volunteer search-and-rescue resources, neighboring teams, and mutual aid depending on the incident and jurisdiction.
RRGH’s business-support commitment remains solely directed to Wolfe County Search & Rescue. The broader resources below are educational context and do not create or imply an RRGH profit allocation, partnership, sponsorship, or endorsement involving another agency or county.
Wolfe County Search & Rescue
WCSART is the search-and-rescue organization supported by Red River Gorge Hiker through RRGH’s two separate Company commitments: at least $500 each calendar year plus 20% of positive business profit.
Visit WCSART ↗Powell County Search & Rescue
Powell County Search & Rescue serves the Powell County side of the Gorge and works alongside other local and regional responders when mutual aid is needed.
Visit Powell County SAR ↗Menifee County Emergency Response
Search-and-rescue incidents in Menifee County may involve local emergency services, neighboring SAR teams, Kentucky State Police, and other mutual-aid resources depending on the location and situation.
Menifee County Contacts ↗Lee County Emergency Response
Lee County emergency-management and public-safety resources may respond locally and work with neighboring teams and other mutual-aid partners when incidents require additional support.
Lee County Emergency Management ↗Organizational structures and incident response vary by county. This page does not claim all four counties maintain identical SAR units.
Before you hike
A little preparation can change the whole outcome
These are general wilderness-preparedness practices, informed by public National Park Service guidance. Your route, weather, land manager, season, and group may require more.
Leave a trip plan
Tell a trusted person where you are going, your planned route, who is with you, and when you expect to return.
Know your route
Study the route before departure. Carry or download offline navigation and know how to use it; do not rely on cellular service.
Carry illumination
Bring a headlamp or flashlight even for a planned daytime hike, plus adequate battery power for the trip.
Bring water and food
Carry enough water, appropriate food, and additional supplies for unexpected delays or changing conditions.
Prepare for weather
Check the forecast and carry layers or rain protection appropriate for changing conditions.
Carry basic emergency gear
Bring first-aid supplies and emergency essentials appropriate to your route, season, group, and trip length.
Know daylight and turnaround time
Plan around sunset and seasonal daylight. Turn around before a day hike becomes an unplanned night hike.
Respect terrain and your limits
Use extra care around cliffs, wet sandstone, roots, leaves, ice, steep slopes, and terrain beyond your experience.
If you need help
If this is an active emergency: call 911.
Red River Gorge Hiker is not an emergency service. Do not use this website to request rescue assistance.
Be ready to communicate what you know
- Your location, trail, landmark, or GPS coordinates if available
- The nature of the injury, emergency, or problem
- How many people are involved
- Whether the person can move or is in a hazardous location
- Remaining phone battery and your best callback number
- Clothing, gear, nearby hazards, or other details that may help responders locate the group
Follow the dispatcher’s instructions. Do not invent a route out, move an injured person, or change location solely because of information on this page.
Maps & navigation
Know which source governs the ground you are on
The Red River Gorge area includes National Forest and wilderness lands as well as separately managed Kentucky State Park property. Use the controlling land manager’s current information for maps, rules, trail access, and camping.
Daniel Boone maps & guides
Start with the land manager for official Forest Service maps and trip-planning information.
Open official maps & guides ↗Clifty Wilderness
Official Forest Service information for the rugged wilderness that forms a large part of the RRGH photography and hiking landscape.
View Clifty Wilderness information ↗Gladie Visitor Center
Official Red River Gorge visitor information, trip-planning help, and current Forest Service context from the Gorge.
Visit Gladie information ↗Natural Bridge State Resort Park
Natural Bridge is managed separately from National Forest land. Use Kentucky State Parks for its trails, maps, camping, and park notices.
Open Natural Bridge information ↗Backcountry / dispersed camping
Check the Forest Service rule before you pick a campsite
The controlling Forest Service information for the Red River Gorge Geological Area says that, except at designated sites, camping is prohibited within 300 feet of any developed road or trail and within 600 feet of Gray’s Arch.
Rules, special orders, closures, fire restrictions, access conditions, and fees can change. This summary is not a substitute for the controlling Forest Service information.
Rule summary last reviewed:
Plan before you go
Current conditions are part of the route
This site deliberately links to authoritative sources instead of pretending to maintain a second set of live closure, weather, or road data.
Forest Service alerts & closures
Check current Daniel Boone National Forest alerts, special orders, closures, and advisories before leaving home.
Check the official source ↗Weather near Slade
Use the National Weather Service point forecast for the Red River Gorge gateway area and reassess plans when conditions change.
Check the official source ↗Kentucky road conditions
GoKY provides Kentucky Transportation Cabinet road, hazard, work-zone, weather, and traffic information.
Check the official source ↗State-park notices
If your trip includes Natural Bridge State Resort Park, check the park’s own information because its management and rules are separate.
Check the official source ↗Search & rescue education
Make yourself easier to help
Wilderness rescue can involve distance, cliffs, darkness, weather, water, technical terrain, and limited communications. These general principles are not WCSART-specific operating procedures.
Location precision matters
A trail name, landmark, route, map location, or coordinates can help responders understand where to start looking.
Night changes the problem
Illumination, warm layers, power, and a realistic turnaround time matter even when the original plan is only a daytime outing.
Conserve useful information
If you have phone service, preserve battery and be ready to communicate a clear location, condition, group size, and callback number.
Avoid making the situation bigger
If lost or injured, stop and assess before wandering farther into steep, unfamiliar, or hazardous terrain. Follow emergency-dispatch instructions when contact is established.
Support the people who support hikers
Two paths. One shared place.
Shop Red River Gorge Hiker
When you purchase RRGH photography or Gear, 20% of RRGH business profit is allocated to Wolfe County Search & Rescue.
Send your support straight to WCSART
Want your contribution to go directly to Wolfe County Search & Rescue instead? Use WCSART’s own donation system. The donation does not pass through RRGH.
Donate directly to Wolfe County Search & Rescue ↗Official-information note: Regulations, permits, closures, weather, road conditions, and land-management rules are controlled by the linked public agencies, not Red River Gorge Hiker. Check the official source before your trip.
Relationship note: Red River Gorge Hiker independently supports Wolfe County Search & Rescue. No formal partnership, sponsorship, endorsement, or commercial relationship is implied.